


Sailing

by Beleriandings



Series: In the midst of the innumerable stars [10]
Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Alternate Universe - Space, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-30
Updated: 2015-01-30
Packaged: 2018-03-09 15:46:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3255419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beleriandings/pseuds/Beleriandings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elros is happiest when sailing the solar wind with his brother. But sometimes, on his star tracker, he sees a bright dot that makes him wonder. Meanwhile, Maglor and Maedhros reminisce about the past.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sailing

Maglor squinted the display screen, following the two blinking red tracker dots with his eyes, his face apprehensive. He looked up at his brother. “Nelyo, do you think they’re alright out there?”

Maedhros smiled fondly. “You worry too much. Those little sailors are perfectly safe for children to fly, and we’ve got the second ranger ready to go get them should the slightest thing go wrong. Let them have their fun. Remember some of the things we used to get up to? That time we took grandfather’s planethopper and played dodge-the-asteroids around the  _Formenos_?”

Maglor grimaced. “That was a terrible idea, in hindsight. Besides, we grew up in the Valinor system, before the Darkening. Things were different.”

“Do you think I’ve forgotten? But Káno, these children have never been able to have much freedom. Listen to them!” Maedhros turned on the voice coms, and the control room was filled suddenly with sound of the twin’s delighted shrieks and whoops as they whirled and looped about each other in their solar wind sailors, not far from the nose of the ship.

Even Maglor could not help but smile at the sound. “Alright” he conceded. “I just… I worry about them.”

“I know you do.”

—————

Elros’ hands were beginning to relax on the controls, as he angled his sail a little, tacking into the solar wind. He felt a smile spread across his face; he was good at this. When Maglor had shown him the controls in the little sailor with its cramped capsule and its bright reflective heat shielding and its elegant silvered solar wind sail he had fallen immediately in love, despite the shuddering as he made tight turns, and the scratchiness of the com and the cracked seat that cradled him. He loved to fly, the responsiveness of the controls, being on control and floating on the solar wind that streamed towards them from bright Anar.

Sometimes he would pull up the star-tracking navigation and track a particular bright spot, the brightest in the sky apart from Anar, and it would give him a strange feeling as he thought of his father. His _other_  father that was, not Maglor or Maedhros. Had Eärendil’s ship been a solar wind sailor? A plain old solar sail? Or had it been a larger rover, or a battered old tub like the one Maedhros and Maglor flew? Did Eärendil love to fly, or had it lost its novelty? Was he dragged down at times by a sense of duty? Elros had no idea; he had barely known his father.

The com crackled, and Maglor’s voice filled the capsule, a little tinny and distorted, as Elros executed a perfect loop around Elrond’s sailor. “Boys, it’s time to come in now.”

“Aww!” protested Elros. “I want to fly some more!”

“You can fly more tomorrow. Come on.”

“But there’s a solar storm forecast for tomorrow” pointed out Elrond. “Orange warning. You don’t let us fly when there’s anything above yellow.”

“Alright then, you can fly the next day” said Malgor. “Come on. No arguments, you need to have your dinner. Dock at ports…” he paused. “Elros, port four. Elrond, port six. Don’t make me come out with the ranger again to get you back. Over and out.”

With a regretful sigh, Elros took one last look at that bright spot, and with a final neat roll in his sailor, he began to turn away from Anar’s light and back towards the ship.

———-

“Thanks for reminding Maglor about the orange solar storm warning! Now we won’t be able to fly tomorrow!”

Elrond frowned at his brother. “Why would you want to fly in a solar storm? It’s scary enough as it is!”

“It’s a storm  _warning_ , not a  _storm_. And I don’t find flying scary, I love it! Besides, I thought you liked it too?”

“I do! I didn’t mean that!”

“You  _said_  it” protested Elros, elbowing his brother in the ribs.

“Ow! Elros! Fine then. I like flying, but I also find it a bit scary” said Elrond, blushing.

That night, Elrond and Elros lay in bed, curled together in the warmth of their shared sleep capsule. It was meant for one adult, but Maglor had stopped offering them separate capsules for sleeping after the first few weeks when one or other of them had invariably crept across the corridor to curl up with to the other. Elros liked sharing with his brother, anyway. He loved the moments when Elrond was asleep and all he could hear was Elrond’s steady breathing and the quietly oscillating hum of the air circulation system, the two rhythms just slightly out of synchronisation. It comforted him, as did Elrond’s warm body at his side.

Elrond usually fell asleep first, or pretended to; Elros could not always tell, although Elrond always seemed to know when  _he_  was feigning sleep. Sure enough, just when he was almost certain that Elrond had truly fallen asleep, there came a voice in the darkness.

“Do you think of him too? When you’re flying?”

“Who?” asked Elros.

“Father. Our real father, that is.”

Elrond’s voice had sounded apprehensive.

“Sometimes” admitted Elros. “When I see him on my nav screen. He must have liked flying a lot, and been good at it too.”

“You’re good at flying” said Elrond, quietly. “Better than me.”  
Elros grinned. “Yep.”

“You like it too.”

Elros frowned this time. “So?”

Elrond was silent for a long while. Then he squirmed under the blankets, pulling himself closer to Elros. “Don’t leave me.”

“Why would I do that?”

Elrond hugged him, and shrugged. “Don’t know. Just don’t, okay? Or if you do, let me come with you.”

“Of course” said Elros. “Don’t be stupid. I wouldn’t leave you.”

Elrond was silent for a little while longer. “Okay” he said at least. “Goodnight then.”

“Goodnight.”

After a time, Elrond’s breathing evened out and his body relaxed, and Elros was almost certain that he was asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Slightly edited from the form in which it appeared on Tumblr, since when I posted I (temporarily) forgot that solar sails and solar wind sails are not the same thing.


End file.
